Animal collars having expandable and contractable characteristics already known in the prior art. Such collars are commonly made of elastic material which inherently expands and contracts, and in some instances the expansion permits the collar to be slipped over the animal's head without opening the collar. Also, the prior art is aware of elasticized animal collars which have identification tags attached thereto. U.S. Pat. No. 2,810,368 is acknowledged herein as showing an expandable and contractable animal collar. Likewise, U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,539,098 and 2,648,150 are acknowledged as showing animal collars with identification tags attached.
In the present invention, the animal collar is made of an expandable and contractable material to accommodate the pressures such as those exerted by the neck of the animal wearing the collar or by any object pulling on the collar. However, the free-body configuration of the collar, that is, when there is no force on the collar, is such that the collar will be confortably snug on the neck of the animal even though it can be slipped off over the head of the animal in even unusual circumstances, such as when the collar is inadvertently attached to an object which would otherwise restrain the movement of the animal. That is, if the animal had its collar caught on a fence or on vegetation or the like, then the animal would not be restrained, but instead could actually pull its head out of the collar and release itself without being unduly restrained or injured.
Still further, in an example of utilizing the collar for sheep, the growth of wool underneath the collar could cause an ordinary collar to become tight on the sheep's neck. However, in this invention the collar will automatically expand to accommodate the undergrowth of wool and will therefore not choke or otherwise annoy the sheep wearing the collar.
Still further, the collar of this invention can be made basically in one size such that the overall circumference of the collar when it is disposed in a circle will accommodate the various neck sizes of animals without actually being too loose or too tight, but instead only always assuming a snug fit on the animal's neck. This objective is achieved through the combined flexibility and elasticity possessed by the collar of this invention.
Still further, the collar of this invention is arranged such that an identification tag can be attached to the collar, and, in fact, the tag itself can serve as a fastener for presenting and holding the collar in a restrained circle on the animal's neck. Again, as with sheep or the like, and in the context mentioned above, collars commonly are not used because of the expansion and contraction requirements of the collar, and therefore the animal usually has an identification tag placed on its ear which is therefore pierced. If that ear tag becomes entangled with a foreign object, then the animal is inclined to pull away to a consequence of where the animal injures its own ear where the tag was attached. Other objects and advantages will become apparent upon reading the following description in light of the accompanying drawings.